Introducing: South London Ordnance

When South London Ordnance recently bemoaned his lack of public relations skills on Twitter, we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to introduce him to you. The elusive 23-year-old producer’s Soundcloud had caught our attention with an endearing lack of biographic detail allowing the music to speak for itself.  He’s one of the newest additions to the growing crowd of musicians creating crossover techno with audible influences from a variety of other genres, making his music classifiable as something closer to UK bass tinged with some acid house and dubstep, and of course the occasional diva sample.

Chase Scene by South London Ordnance

The small number of tracks on his Soundcloud is a deceiving indicator of South London Ordnance’s prolificacy, as he hinted to having quite a bit on the go, including an EP forthcoming on Audio Culture. His tunes have garnered support from artists like Mosca, who included ‘Crows Nest’ in a mix for Mary Anne Hobbs, Hackman, and Dark Sky.

Crows Nest (Mosca Guest Mix For Mary Anne Hobbes on XFM) by South London Ordnance

Before having the chance to ask about what he’s been getting up to, his AIM status revealed that he’s about to deliver one of the next installments in LuckyMe’s stellar mix series, which already started off the new year strong with a mix from Helix (who, coincidentally, gave us Truancy Volume 33 in July).

We were excited to sit down to indulge our curiosity by discussing his material and what he has in the works – including a release, a mix, and an exclusive free track to be given away on Truants.

Tell us a bit about yourself! So far, all I know about you is that you’re somewhere in the UK. London in general seems like it must be incredibly inspiring, when I first saw your artist name I couldn’t help the association with Burial’s “South London Boroughs.” “Yeah, I’ve lived here all my life – in South London, as you might expect. As far as urban spaces go, there’s a lot of scope for inspiration, especially if you’re looking to make dark, bass driven music. There’s a sense of great space, but at the same time incredibly proximity. It’s difficult to say something like that and not sound pretentious, but I think most people will get what I mean. I did listen to a lot of Burial at the time, but I don’t think his music had the same lasting effect on me as it did on so many people. It’s still some of the rawest, spacious music on road though. As far as ‘dubstep’ goes, I really was more of a Loefah, Digital Mystikz guy. Having said that, the tune I want to give away with this interview does owe a lot to that kind of unquantized, rough, bass driven sound that Burial was pushing… It’s a departure from the techno based stuff I’ve been working on lately – probably owing more to artists like SPMC (his dubstep output on Tempa) and Swamp 81. I’d like to think anyway… whether it comes close to either we’ll see!”

Download: [wpaudio url=”https://truantsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Throwback.mp3″ text=”South London Ordnance – Throwback”] (320 kbps)

Do you have any gigs set up for the near future? “No gigs as yet for this project – but I’d love to start playing out under Ordnance. Just have to wait I guess – plus I’ve got plenty to be getting on with – finishing up tracks, recording mixes, etc. I was a DJ long before I started producing – but I think I’ve got to get this project rolling properly before I get hit up gigs on the regular.”

How long have you been DJing? “I’ve been messing around on turntables for the best part of 10 years now, but I only really got into production properly about a year ago. That makes me sound like I’m old though – I’m not haha. I was just a goon about DJing when I was a kid… I don’t know why. A lot of my friends’ older brothers were into drum and bass and jungle and loads of them had decks – I never got a look in but it made me think I wanted to give it a go. I saved up for my first set of belt drive decks and get them when I was about 12/13 or so. They were absolute pants and broke within weeks…” (N.B. pants = bad)

What kind of music do you DJ? Is it similar to the style in which you produce, or a mishmash of inspirations? “Completely across the board – I’ve played hip hop, bashment, garage, techno – the lot, all in one set. At the moment though I’m playing a lot of techno influenced stuff especially. .. so yeah, I guess a lot of it’s similar to my own stuff at the moment.”

What are some of your favourite tracks to play out lately? Right now the top tracks I’ve got in the bag are (in no particular order):

1. Hackman & Tessela – Feel Like Loving Me

2. Mosca – Orange Jack

3. My Nu Leng – Damp

4. Matt Fear/Frank Rodas – Kick It VIP

5. Furesshu – Lifted (Shifted Remix)

6. Scuba – Everywhere

And following more generally from those tracks, what artists/labels are you looking forward to hearing from in 2012? In terms of artists I’m feeling at the moment, I’ve got a huge amount of time for anything Mosca makes, as well as people like Scuba, Kowton, Hodge, Hackman and Tessela. In terms of emerging artists – I have no doubt 2012 will be a big year for people like Artifact, Thefft and Ziro, not to mention artists like My Nu Leng, Last Japan and Pusherman. As far as labels go – that new stuff on Hotflush by Locked Groove is just top – always been a massive fan of that imprint, also Teal’s recent output has been dope. Audio Culture has got some absolute fire in the bag waiting to go – so I’m really happy to be releasing my debut EP with them.”

How about your own plans for the future? Your work is taking off fast, is producing becoming more of an occupation? An LP following your EP, maybe? “I’d like to think I could be doing this for a while – I’ve every intention of keeping my life very much about music. Production is taking up a lot of my time right now but I actually run a label myself – I keep it very separate from this project though. In terms of an LP – I’d love to do that someday, but I think it’ll be a while yet…”

Keep your eyes peeled for South London Ordnance’s mix for LuckyMe dropping sometime during February, as well as his EP on Audio Culture. Follow him on his Twitter and Soundcloud as well, as the constant rotation of tracks may offer a little more insight into this intriguing and promising producer.

Cayley MacArthur

4 thoughts on “Introducing: South London Ordnance”

  1. I like it. The sound is also good except I really like the band NO and their single Meet Me After Dark. Have you heard of NO

    I think they are going to London. Mike Jarzabek, Tim Jarzabek, Justin Corman, Nick Jarzabek

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